In a tradition that started about 20 years ago, a group of area men regularly congregates at the dock to watch the arrival and departure of the S.S. Badger.

Among them is retired Chicago and Northwestern Railroad switchman Don Manlick, 77, of Manitowoc.

"I worked on the railroad and I was involved in loading and unloading the car ferry. It's a magnificent machine for this day and age," he said of the 410-foot-long Badger, the last and largest steam-powered passenger vessel in the United States.

Launched in 1952, the Badger was reborn in 1991, ferrying passengers and vehicles instead of railroad freight cars.

Manlick and other fans of the historic vessel began gathering "to watch people, talk and get together," he said. "There originally were four of us, now there can be up to six or seven people."

The men — who just happened to be at the dock at the same time — became friends, Manlick said.

'Manitowoc Mafia'

Todd "Scoop" Hansen, Badger entertainment director, jokingly named the group "Manitowoc Mafia" and the name stuck, he said.

"I used to fish on the pier all the time. When the fishing was bad, I'd come over here and watch the people. That's how it started," said Dick Hermann, 75, of Manitowoc, one of the original members.

Pat Bates, 73, of Manitowoc, enjoys the passengers he meets at the dock.

"One week I talked to couples from almost all over Europe. One of the couples lived two blocks from where I was stationed in France," said Bates, who served with the U.S. Army engineers during peacetime.

"I used to work for Richter Vinegar when it was in town," said retired truck driver Bill Rodewald, 67, of Manitowoc.

"We delivered vinegar down in Chicago, then picked up cider vinegar in Scottville, Mich. We'd take the ferry to the plant," he said. "Now that I'm retired ... I can sit here for hours."

Rodewald said he still knows a number of the Badger staffers and truck drivers.

Group members enjoy chatting with Badger Capts. Jeffrey Curtis and Michael Martin as well as Terri Brown, Lake Michigan Carferry's director of marketing and media relations.

"From our perspective, it's special for us to disembark and to see them —whether its two or five or seven of them — sitting there, to see that they are loyal and faithful to the SS badger," Brown said.

"It's very special to us and we're honored to have them present," she said. "They actually help the passengers when they have questions. They're kind of like ambassadors for us."